Portable melting furnaces or crucibles for non-ferrous metals have been made and used heretofore but uniformly suffer disadvantages from high energy losses wherein the heating elements, such as resistance heaters or induction heaters or other heat source are externally located to the ladle and from the resulting bulkiness and fragility of construction which tends to make the furnace subject to damage upon being bumped during handling, e.g., during casting. Melting has also been carried out using gas burners directed at the metal, but this results in unwanted oxidation of the metal at the surface of the resulting melt. Drawing melt from a stationary crucible into a portable ladle presents other problems of safety, contamination of the molten metal, difficulties in maintaining a consistent melt temperature, and large energy losses.